1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to mechanical guns and projectors, and more specifically to fluid pressure devices. The present invention in one manifestation pertains to an electronically controlled paint ball delivery and firing system that may be operated reliably at enormous firing rates, and which provides early warning of impending need for service.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the purposes of this disclosure, paint ball guns are specifically defined as apparatus that propel gelatin or other frangible capsules filled with paint or dye from a barrel in rapid succession and at relatively high speeds. The paint ball capsules are designed to break upon impact with an object or person, most preferably without injuring the person or object. The ball impact expels the paint or dye, rendering an identifiable mark. Because of the relative safety of the marker, and the entertainment that is intrinsic, modern paint ball guns are used quite extensively for both recreational and training purposes.
Paint ball guns can fire in rapid succession a relatively large number of paint balls in a short period of time. A magazine stores the necessary supply of paint balls until the balls are delivered sequentially to the gun firing chamber. The guns most commonly use compressed gas as the propellant, and are usually triggered by a user squeezing a gun trigger. When the gun user repeatedly squeezes the trigger, the gun should continue to fire paint balls as rapidly as possible. Guns may be manually loaded before each shot, but most are either semi-automatic, where each time the trigger is pulled a paint ball is fired, or fully automatic, where the balls are fired as quickly as the gun is capable for as long as the trigger is pulled.
Quite unlike conventional explosive-propelled munitions, paint balls are relatively round and have an exterior formed from a semi-rigid gelatinous compound. The gelatinous compound is known to be affected somewhat by such variables as temperature and relative humidity, and is of course somewhat frangible. During a firing sequence, paint balls on occasion lodge against each other or other objects and block the passageway to the firing chamber, resulting in a jam. While jamming is not new, knowledge from explosive munitions magazines is of little use with the very different paint balls.
Basic paint ball magazines are little more than large hoppers with a feed tube extending therefrom, a sort of closed funnel through which paint balls are dropped into the firing chamber. Unfortunately, the passageway must ultimately taper to isolate single paint balls therein. Usually this is not a gradual taper, but a sudden transition, to reduce the likelihood of two balls getting stuck against each other. Unfortunately, when one paint ball does lodge against the other or against another object, the user must shake the gun to free the balls. Paint balls passing through a typical basic magazine do so by virtue of gravitational forces alone. In a typical basic magazine, gravity supplied balls require approximately 50 milliseconds per ball to be loaded into the breech for firing, presuming there are no other interruptions such as blocked passages, or frictional interference between balls, or any tilting of the gun. So, in an ideal circumstance, the basic magazine could be used to supply up to 20 balls per second (50 ms/ball×20 balls=1 second). Unfortunately, with only gravity feed and without the addition of an agitator, the frictional interference, intermittent jamming and bolt cycle time reduce this feed rate by almost a full order of magnitude from the theoretical maximum when the gun is held vertically. Moreover, the feed rate may potentially drop to zero balls per second if the gun is tilted during use or when the balls do not feed in an orderly fashion.
One method of preventing paint ball jams is proposed by Miller in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,816. Therein, a large helical magazine is provided through which the paint balls pass in a single row, eventually leading to the firing chamber. Farrell in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,333 also illustrates a magazine designed not to jam, using a straight tube design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,454 to Bell et al discloses a large magazine having a generally open interior with sloping ends and side walls that lead downward to a tubular passageway referred to as a feed tube. Gravitational forces tend to urge the paint balls to the feed tube, and an agitator paddle is provided to stir the paint balls. However, once the balls have passed through the opening into the feed tube, they are still operating under gravitational influences, and so in the best of circumstances, will still be limited to feed rates approximating 20 balls per second. Frictional interference, bolt cycle time and more empty magazines reduce this number, and in practice the actual feed rate is still typically less than one-half of the theoretical rate.
Williams, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,188, discloses a coiled tube within the magazine chamber that is pressurized during the firing process to force balls into the feed tube. During rapid fire sequences, the magazine is agitated by motion of the coiled tube. Harvey in U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,042 illustrates a loader that moves peripherally located balls within a magazine, and expels them centrifugally into a feed tube. Stevens, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,252, discloses another paint ball carrier which receives paint balls in pockets around the periphery thereof. A guide assembly improves the orderly feeding of balls into an opening. Andresen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,953 discloses another circumferential disk loader. Jong, in U.S. published application 2004/0134475, 2006/0130822 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,569 discloses another force-feeding system. Kostiopoulos in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,305,367; 6,467,473 and 6,488,019 illustrates another type of peripheral loader. Finally, a number of patents and published applications by James Christopher et al illustrate additional circumferential force feeding systems, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,213,110; 6,502,567; 6,701,907; 6,792,933; 6,889,680 and 2006/0054151. Feeders which utilize the Stevens, Christopher or Jong apparatuses, or other force-fed devices, may be designed to substantially exceed the standard gravity feed rate. Exemplary feeders are often able to feed balls into the breech at 20 millisecond intervals, or at a rate of approximately 50 balls each second. Nevertheless, these feeders couple through some type of feed tube to the breech. When the supply of balls in the magazine dwindles or is exhausted, the rate of feed will diminish from the 20 millisecond intervals to the 50, 100 or more milliseconds required by the gravity-fed magazines. Furthermore, where spring mechanisms are used, such as with Jong, Andresen, and Christopher, the spring force will vary as the magazine empties, thereby also changing and slowing the feed rate.
Anderson, the present inventor, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,791,325; 5,947,100; and 6,684,873, discloses a paint ball gun including an improved agitator which delivers higher paint ball feed rates than other prior art gravity-fed agitators; an electronic circuit having a duration control which delays turning off the motor for a predetermined interval while activating the motor continuously during a rapid firing sequence; a magnetic, sound, pressure, shock or similar sensor to trigger the electronic circuit into energizing the motor; and a tilt sensor to selectively control direction of a paint ball gun magazine agitator motor, which in response to the magazine being tilted generates an electrical direction indicator signal, a tilt duration detector timing the electrical direction indicator signal, and an electrical circuit for controlling a direction of rotation of the paint ball magazine agitator motor responsive thereto. Each of these improve upon the prior art feeders, but, like all feeders, are prone to instances where feed may be interrupted or slowed.
A number of artisans have also designed systems which monitor various operations within a paint ball gun. Nearly every modern gun has a sensor in the breech region to detect the presence of a paint ball, and to prevent firing without a ball present. U.S. published patent application 2002/0020402 by Kotsiopoulos, entitled “Feeder for a Paintball Gun,” describes a paintball feeder that may be interconnected with the firing control of the paintball gun. Sensors are used to prevent accidental breakage of paintballs which are misfed (e.g., incompletely fed) to the paintball gun's infeed. The determination which is made is one of whether the paint ball is present or absent in a region monitored by a sensor. U.S. published patent application 2002/0170552 and the resulting U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,296 by Gardner Jr., entitled “Dynamic Paintball Gun Control,” describes the use of a loading sensor to identify loading problems and dynamically adjust solenoid valve dwell settings, agitator settings on the loader, or other settings to improve loading characteristics. Other sensors are also proposed, including sensors to measure paintball velocity, temperature, chamber pressure, acoustic report, and valve characteristics. Nevertheless, there is no discussion of how such adjustments and settings might be made, nor how such a system could then be optimally operated. U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,137 by MacLaughlin, entitled “Trigger Control System for a Paint Ball Gun,” describes a paintball gun including a sensor incorporated into the electronic circuitry to ascertain when a paint ball is properly seated within the firing chamber, to in turn permit firing. Once again, this system detects a presence or absence of the paintball. U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,538 by Ellis, entitled “Electronically Actuated Marking Pellet Projector”, describes a paintball gun with several sensors for positions of gun elements, including a projectile sensor which must sense the presence of a paintball prior to sending the bolt forward. Additional sensors may be also sense the bolt position. U.S. published patent application 2003/0226555 by Reible, entitled “Pneumatic Projectile Launching Apparatus with Partition-Loading Apparatus”, describes a feed system that uses sensors to determine conditions of the process such as projectile loading status or partition location and adjust the cycle rate to those conditions. Much like Gardner though, there is no discussion in the Reible application of how such adjustments and settings might be made, nor how such a system could then be optimally operated. Finally, U.S. published patent application 2004/0134475 by Jong, entitled “Paintball Marker Loader Apparatus” and also referenced herein above, describes the use of multiple sensors along the length of the passageway of the delivery conduit of the magazine of a paintball gun. A separate controller is provided to control magazine operation.
Each of the aforementioned patents and published applications are incorporated herein by reference, for their various teachings including but not limited to the various magazine technologies and associated sensor and control systems.
As paintball guns continue to be refined, firing rates continue to increase. Improved firing rates allow a participant to fan an area or still be moving the gun during firing, while standing a much greater chance of striking an opponent located somewhere within the arc of shots fired with at least one paintball. Said another way, the angular spread between individual paintballs decreases, in turn decreasing the physical space between balls at some radius or distance from the firing gun. Rapid firing then requires less precision in aiming, in turn allowing a participant to be moving and not requiring time to line up a shot, which is advantageous during a competition. Furthermore, and unlike the munitions counterparts of modern weapons, paintballs do not have the highly refined directional control that is obtained form precise fabrication and projectile direction enhancement such as the spiraling or fluting that may be found on modern explosively propelled projectiles. As a result, the shot spread is much greater for paintballs than for bullets. Because of this, and at any distance other than close ranges, a shooter will typically require more shots to mark a target than would be required with bullets. Consequently, any techniques which can improve the peak firing rate of a gun offer advantage in a competition, so long as other factors, such as maintaining an adequate supply of paintballs, are not sacrificed.
In addition to feed rate, other factors are important and beneficial. For example, when a magazine is operating, there is little if any indication of impending need for service. When a magazine jams, the gun will no longer fire due to the breech sensor. However, the participant only learns of this after there is no shot emanating from the gun. If this were, for example, to occur when the gun operator was moving in an exposed area and trying to cover himself through a rapid firing succession, the operator would be much more exposed than anticipated. Many of the aforementioned magazines, when they run low, will also reduce the firing rate of a gun. Once again, until the magazine is empty, there is no warning or indication for the operator that the gun will no longer fire at the same firing rates as are otherwise typical. Such unexpected events may leave the gun operator at a particular disadvantage. There has been no compensation heretofore provided within the gun for the decreased feed rates, which might otherwise to some extent mitigate the disadvantages to the operator. Some proposals come from the aforementioned patents to Jong, which discuss as an alternative embodiment that one or more of the indicators indicate a condition using a vibrator device that could be activated to notify the user that a low-balls condition or a low battery condition exists. There is no discussion of how this would be implemented, or of any way to mitigate the reduced load speed.
Another important issue, particularly when using many of the modern force-feed systems at high firing rates, is a likelihood of chopping not the paintball within the breech, but instead the second ball. This chopping occurs due to undesirable compression of the entire stack of balls within the feed stack. These balls are compressed more greatly by force feed systems, and again when spring systems are used and these springs are wound for maximum force.
Each of these aforementioned issues, and others that arise directly therefrom, leave opportunity for improvement and advancement in the paintball industry. It is these deficiencies and limitations that the present invention addresses.